Shadow of the Colossus: Lost Children
by Sage C
Summary: Revsion in progress Markus is a soldier who was hand picked to lead the Alliance into the land of the colossi. The deeper he goes the more of the dark secret of the land start to consume his comrades.
1. Regret

Shadow of Colossus

Chapter 1 – Regret

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the products produced by the company that made Shadow of the Colossus. I'm just using the universe for self-interest and creativity. _

_Setting: The story is set three years after the end of Shadow of the Collosus. It's about two countries fighitng over the land of the giants. _

Blood spilled and stained the ground as another man fell to ground dead. The rain from earlier made the smell of blood cover the entire field and eve the smell of dead was overweighed by it. Markus stood in the mist of the fighting holding his sword with both hands breathing as much of the blood filled air as he could.

He turned his head seeing many of his comrades laying on the ground either dead or shoving a sword into anoher one of their enemies. Markus let his guard down seeing no threats around him and looked down seeing blood flowing down his arm and dripping off the edge of his blade. He shook his head feeling light headed. He stumbled, but caught his balance stabbing the earth with his sword. He removed his helmet and his shoulder armor looking at his brown tunic. He removed his right glove and touched his sword.

"Only a scratch." As soon as he said that a yell came from behind him. He tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword and slashed through the soldier coming at him. He narrowed his head looking around seeing soldiers starting to surround him. His comrades now were the fresh bodies on the ground. Markus dodged a swing and smashed his glove into the soldier's visor. Markus spun around tearing the wound up wider cutting down a soldier.

Markus lost his footing and dropped to his knees in front of the enemy seeing them coming towards him in a massive number. The blood mixed in with his blue cloth making a deep black color appear on his lap. "So this is the Alliance, pathetic." A older man in purple garb stood in front him with a curved blade and a wicked smile painted on his dark face. Markus coughed and looked up at the man with anger in his eyes.

"Hmm." The soldier grabbed Markus by the head and lifted him back to his feet. Markus's vision started to falter as he stood with the man. "Damn you." Markus growled and tried to remove the enemy's hand, but his struggle was in vain. A quick blow to his side and then another one to his stomach follwed his grunting for freedom. Markus dropped his sword and started to loose conciousness.

"Wake up, boy." Markus opened his eyes a little seeing his death before him, but a roar of energy started to flow through his arms and legs. Markus grabbed his attacker's arm and ripped it free from the enemy's body. The soldier feel back screaming in pain seeing blood squirt every direction covering his comrades. Markus dropped to the ground on his knees and stood up slowly with a cursed face and insane grin.

Markus dropped the lifeless limb and cracked his fingers in rage. His body was not his own anymore. Markus flew at the group of soldiers with only one intent, to kill every single one of them with his bare hands.

The Alliance's second wave of soldiers started their rampage charge with spears and swords in hand. Yells of victory and prowess topped the sound of feet running on bodies of the dead. Part of the wave crashed in with the first wave killing off the remaning soldiers in their way and attacking the opposing sides with nothing but force.

Some of the soldiers scouted the outter regions of the battlefield searching for soldier in purple, but they only found blood and sinew as their rewards. Body parts were littered on the ground and the smell of blood was so strong that even the veterans dropped to their knees in horror vomiting. Some of the older soldiers stood in front of the mess and saw a crimson blue soldier holding a sword as a crutch and blood dripping off him.

"Long live the Alliance."

The warring grounds continued as Markus fell to the ground loosing all of his insane rage. Markus lost conciouness clinching on to the sword in his hand.

"What madness is this?" Markus's body stirred back to life and his eyes flung open. He looked left and right seeing people on the ground with wounds covering their bodies and Markus was no different. He removed the sling from his arm and stood up wearing nothing but a white tunic. Markus notcied he was in a tent of wounded and walked out seeing two soldiers talking amonst themsleves.

"This the devil they have spoken off! How could General Douglass want something to do with this boy! You saw the scene for yourself. He ripped those soldiers apart with God knows what! I will not allow the release of this soldier until the council has given us a proper answer."

Markus looked at the one who was talking to most and notcied his clothes. He was a noble. "What is a noble doing on a battlefiled?" Markus poked his head back in and looked at his mat seeing a soldier waking up from his sleep. Markus blinked his eyes and quickly rushed over lowereing his body towards the wounded soldier. "Paul! You made it! Thank God." Markus smiled and shook Paul slightly.

Paul let out a grin and looked at him smiling with bandages covering his face. "Markus…run." Markus blinked and looked at Paul closely. "Run? Why would I, shouldn't they ship me back home with you and the others?" Paul sat up revealing his missing arm. "Run. I don't' care what they say to you or what you think."

Markus interuppted with his words, but Paul grabbed him by the collar pulling Markus even closer. "Listen! They plan on using you for some weird experiment. This war is nothing more than a war! Run Markus!" Markus nodded and looked over seeing his clothing and his sword on a table. "Alright, I'll see you when we get back to Ale." Paul smiled softly and went back to his sleep. Markus rushed back to his cot and grabbed anything that was there and then rushed over to his equipment.

In a tent not too far from the infromary tent four generals sat near a candle staring at one another. One was dressed in heavy armor and long, red, bushy hair fitting both his head and his beard. Another one sat across from the red one with long elegant silver hair and light armor clinched to his body. The one seating in the dark was simple dressed in a tunic with a piece of weed in his mouth chewing slowly while The leader of the four was dressed in a brown cloak hiding his face.

"What do you think we should do with him?" The red one's voice was gruff and loud. The three didn't say anything to his repsonse. The red one then looked over to their leader and blinked. "Well?" "He's a soldier nonetheless, he has been mortally wounded and is of no use of us. I say we get rid of him." The white haired one looked at the red haired one with a restrained anger, but the other two could see it.

"But he is an asset to us. He has killed over a hundred man in one raid of a temple and has shown his marks of war for a soldier." The one with the weed in his mouth pulled it out slowly and looked at the other three. "Regardless of his age and carnage, I say we keep him and promote him to our ranks."

Both the red and white haired ones looked at the weed eater with a confused face. "Are you mad? Have you not seen his order sheet. He has numerously disobied orders and led soldiers into battle, he's not in a rank to do something like that!" The leader nodded and leaned towards the flame placing his hand on it watching it curve away from his presence.

"But he is a good soldier. He has killed in the name of the Alliance and he is also a volunteer with no family. No one will miss him or ever question his whereabouts." The three looked at their leader hearing his clear voice. "I say we keep him and make him into one of 'our' soldiers. He will be under Saul, but he will be my soldier." The white haired one laughed.

"Another Saul? You think the council will ever accept your insubortination? You have countlessly done things against their orders and…" "And they have worked!" The flame danced wildly fighting for life. "I've led better men into circumstances like this and they all have failed me. Those two run towards hoping to grab at it and take it. I say we keep Markus. I want him around a little bit longer."

The leader grabbed the flame destroying the light in the room.

Markus was not too far the campe dragging his sword along the ground. His wound was starting to open up again, but something inside of him made him run faster. Ever since that last battle he was more agile and quicker at moving than before. His armor was thrased and was heavy, but he moved as if we was running with nothing on. Markus was surprised at his acts and even wanted to presnet himself to his party leader for his next assignment, but Paul's words scared him into running.

Markus looked back over the hill seeing the camp lights and sighed dropping his sword to the ground. He fell on his butt and looked at the camp sighing. "I should go back." Markus grabbed his sword and pulled it close to his body looking up at the sky. "What do you think, father?" Markus's ears wiggled and he rolled to the side seeing an arrow zooming past him.

He pulled the sword up to his face blocking another arrow and looked in front of him seeing a soldier with a cloak and a mask covering his face. "Who the hell?" The mask was of an ancient eagle from the old fairy tales he heard of when he was young. Markus stood up and pointed his sword at the soldier. "Explain yourself." Markus hesistated seeing the soldier quickly running to the side dropping the crossbow.

"Dammit." Markus gripped his blade with both his hands and swung blocking a small dagger from hitting his neck. The soldier back away jumping in the air and threw three small knives aimed at his heart. Markus blocked them all with a huge swipe of his blade and grunted stumbling a bit feeling the blood coming out of his wounds.

"This is going to be a rough one."


	2. False Truth

Shadow of the Colossus

Chapter 2 – False Truths

Markus spun around blocking another blow from his unknown attacker. He landed on his right knee feeling a warm stream of blood dripping down the side of his arm. He stood up slowly and looked at the soldiers and looked deeply into the ivory mask that stared back at him. Markus sighed and let out a breath of air looking at him again with an evil intent. The soldier rushed forward without hesitationa and pulled a curved blade from his side and jumped in the air.

Markus dropped his blade and spun around dodging the slash and ended the confrontation with a strong solid blow to the mask. He stood there with his prize hooked on his fist, but he couldn't move at all from the pain throbbing through his hand. He grunted and used the last of his force to knock the masked soldier to the ground. He shook the pain from his hand and saw the man flipping back to his feet. Markus's face erupted with agner, but he couldn't summon any more strenght, his wound was holding him back.

"Very good, very good." The soldier removed his mask, but a hood quickly covered his nose and eyes. Markus started to walk towards him, but he fell to the ground looking up at him. "So you're the one they call the demon on the battlefield. Nice to know that you have no style of fighting." Markus wanted to summon his power to finish him, but he couldn't move. "Markus Reus, would you like to fight more?"

Markus's eyes opened up wide as he stood back up. Paul's words reawoken themselves inside of Markus's head, but he wanted to go with what his soul was saying. Choas and dismay was what he was yerning and he couldn't help what he was becoming because that what he was. Markus looked at the man's armor and recognized the seal of the lion painted in blue. The soldier removed his hood revealing a face with a pink scar that was placed on the side of chin. "What do you want to do, boy?" Markus didn't say anything, he was in too much shock.

"What do you think of the boy Eros?" The silver haired man looked at the display and shook his head. "A beast nonetheless. He's more like Douglass than Saul, but Douglass won't admit that, Foan?" Eros looked over the giant smirking and rubbing the hair on his chin. "I would think that he would be a good soldier to have around, I can tell you that he's more loyal than Saul. That's for sure." Foan turned around and saw the man chewing on weed again. "Thomas?" Thomas spit the weed from his mouth and shook his head. "I want him to kill for the alliance. No one else."

"Well that's cleared then, Eros. Take the boy to the temple and give him the power." Foan saw the dislike in Eros's face, but the digusted face went away. It was going to eventually happen to boy, either by force or by his own mean. "Do you think we are playing god? He's a soldier, but not a soldier like us. He's one of the demons that only are born here in this cursed land." Thomas put another piece of weed in his mouth and smiled. "Would you rather have him on the Magi's side?"

"No, no. He's just a liability when it comes to things of carnage and death. What makes you think he'll stay with us and fight for the Alliance. What gurantee that you have that he will not leave and kill others?" Thomas shook his head at Eros and spit. "You should be ashame of yourself. This boy is more a help than a harm. If he does get out of order and starts become unruly in anyway or fashion. We will silence him, along with Saul. That's a garuntee."

Markus felt his body starting to give in to the pain from his previous wounds and the most recent ones as well. Markus stood as steady as he could, but the pain gripped his mind and tossed him into a frozen moment in time. Then the soldier grabbed Markus's shoulder and brought him back to life. "I will make you into a fine soldier, Markus." The soldier's face revealed a long pink scar along side his face and Markus quickly recognized him and bowed. "Master Douglass."

_For the next three months, blood spilled and thousands of lives were lost. The Alliance continually poured young men and women on the fields to battle, but opposition would not rest. The soldiers continued to grow stronger and greated in number. Markus was launched mulitple times and found himself fighting more for his life than fighting for the kingdom. Each day was a blessing from the gods and nights were hell. Markus's soft honor became a blind faith follow of commands and he would not compromise. _

A soldier in blood soaked armor and cloak walked in dragging a broken blade behind him. The temple was grand and mounds of dirt and stone were piled together in their own spots. Markus removed his helmet and looked at the brokens statues and then the pile of sand. He quickly turned and saw the alliacnce soldiers running towards his current location for safety.

"Damn magi."

Markus wiped the blood from his lips and cheeks and shook the sweat from his face trying too regain his senses. "Sir! We have a blockade formed and we're awaiting orders from you!" Markus turned and stared the young soldier seeing the fear and pain in his eyes. Markus turned slowly and removed his chest plate armor and leggings and threw his cloak off him. "Then we set up camp."

Markus walked past the reporting soldier and saw a sea of wounded and tired staring back at him. He sighed and looked at the three scouts to his right. "I want you to give word to Master Douglass and the other masters our location. Each one of you will leave in different sets of time and you will travel horseback. Stay among the master's rank until otherwise." The three soldiers nodded and disappeared in the crowds gathering their equipment.

Markus turned to the reporting soldier and placed his glove on his shoulder. Blood smeered off his glove onto the soldier's armor. "Gather all the sick and move them into the temple. Have the archers on shifts during the evening and keep morale high, can you do that?" the soldier nodded and rushed off yelling at the commanders of each division. Markus threw down his gloves and walked back into the temple seeing his armor and sword. He passed them and grabbed his cloak tying it around his neck.

"What did I ask for?"

Markus wiped his eyes again and walked deeper into the temple feeling something calling out to him. He turned around seeing soldiers helping the wounded to the front entrance and up the stairs. Markus nodded and disappeared in the darkness near the back and heard a drop of water. He continued to move until he saw a pool of water in front of him.

Markus quickly bent down and placed his hand on the water finding it refreshing. He quickly threw it on this face and then slam his face against the surface of it drinking as much of it as he could. The blood peeled from his face and floated beside his skin. Markus quickly removed his clothes and tossed them to the side of the pool diving into the water. The light from above the water lit a path to the bottom of the pool.

Markus dived deeper seeing the darkness towards the bottom leading to something. His arms pushed him deeper in until a familiar feeling surrounded him. He qucikly tried to pull back but the darkness started to move in around him and swallow him up. Markus gripped for the light in front of him, but the darkness at the bottom swallowed him completely.

"Sir…" Markus saw a soldier standing in front of him with rag and clothing. "Sir, we thought you were dead. What happened?" Markus shook his head and looked at the water seeing his reflection. He was sitting beside it and the pool seemed like a shallow dip into the earth with water filling it. He stood up and turned his head to the soldier. "What happened?" The soldier shook his head. "I don't know, sir. We were calling for you but you disappeared and then we found you floating on the water naked with water running off you. Are you a magic user, sir? We thought you were healing and…"

Markus let him continue to speak as his memories started to come back to him. He swam in a bottomeless pool and was welcomed to darkness, but what happened after that.

"And sir, I would suggest you to wear your hood when around the soldiers." Markus stared at the soldier and felt his face. "Is there something wrong with my face?" The soldier shook his head and turned away a bit. "You see, only four of us have seen you. I had to kill the three because they spoke of taking your life because of your horns." Markus felt shocked and grabbed the soldier by his shoulders. "What happened? Tell me everything." The soldier started to shake violently. "They spoke of you as if you were a demon. The way you fought and how you raised in the ranks so quickly. You have to understand, I wouldn't let anyone kill my leader."

Markus felt the fear in his eyes, but he saw something in the reflection. Markus removed his hands from the soldier and saw two points sticking out the side of his head. "My god…I've become the demon of legend." Markus turned to the soldier and stared at him. "Don't tell anyone of this…leave my camp and report to General Thomas." The soldier jerked and moved quickly running away.

Markus bent over the water seeing the huge horns sticking out of his head. "By the gods, I have become one of the marked." Markus lowered his head deeper and placed his hands on his face. "I'm a monster of the state."


	3. Question

Shadow of the Colossus

Chapter 3 – Question

Markus remained in the back of the temple for weeks. Only a junior officer ever saw his face and what he was become, but he kept his mouth sealed. No word from Douglass and the others made him worry even more. He was a secluded freak that would never be able to lead his group of men again without making them run in fear.

Markus stood from the pool and saw the officer walking towards him. "Report."

The soldier quickly saluted and pulled out a document. "We have word from the north. Saul is heading this direction with orders from General Douglass. He wants you to join up with him and move to the main Magi cell." Markus quickly rushed out of the pool and grabbed the document. He grabbed his cloak and sword from the all. He tried to put his hood on, but his horns still stuck out.

"Why don't you just show yourself, sir?" The soldier saw Markus trying to place the hood on properly without his horns showing. "The men, they worry about your condition and how you are. They want to know what has become of their master. They want to.." Markus cut him short with a swift hand over the man's face. "You don't understand, you soldiers will never understand what this means." Markus shook him loose and placed his hands on his head.

"I'm sorry, it's just that…I've been raised knowing this day will come." Markus sunk down on the ground removing his hood and shook his head in dismay. How could this be true. The demon blood runs in me as well as my siblings." Markus looked at the pool and remembered the darkness surrounding him and swallowing him.

"What demons? What do you speak of?" Markus rubbed the hair on his chin and stood up walking towards the main hallway. He passed a guard and felt the shock in the soldier's gasp. Markus sighed and felt the Jr. officer's presence still near. You have to understand, that the men of my origin are demons that will bring destruction to this world." Markus rubbed his horns passing other soldiers. The soldiers stared on and followed behind him.

" 'Death is your calling.' That's what my father you used to tell me when I was little. I didn't care what he said though, I just wanted to fight and fight for my own reasons, not for the state or the alliance." Markus stopped his words and quickly drew his sword pointing it at a soldier to the side of him. "And they call me a rebel. You want to run away from this army and do you own things don't you, Markus?

Saul had his back laid on the wall and pulled down his hood revealing the same set of horns, but different. They were formed in the shape of a goats and pointing to the wall behind him. He turned towards Markus seeing his shocked face. Saul stood the same height and build as him, but his skin was brown as dirt and his eyes were black as night. Markus nearly dropped his sword seeing Saul stand before him, but he kept his compsure in front of his men.

"So you are Saul?" Saul nodded and stepped off the wall grabbed a long pole from behind him. He was a young man like Markus, but his face as scarred with mulitple wounds from swords and magic. "Yes, and I have orders from our masters. They wish to launch a major offensive campaign on the Magi before the winter comes." Markus looked around and saw Saul, but not of his company.

"Where are your soldiers?" Saul shook his head and turned around. "I'm the only one that survived the campaign launched last week. Don't worry, I'm more effective that most soldiers you have every met." Markus saw the pole, but a small razer of steel sprouted out on the lower ened side. "A sycthe? That's the weapon you use?" A soldier behind Markus spoke those words loud enough that Saul could hear them.

Saul turned around slowly showing his darkened fast amonst the white ones and smiled. Markus could see the fangs dropping down beside his lips. "Why yes."

The night came quickly and the men readied for their major campaign, but some stood behind to talk to their leader. Markus smiled and waved them goodnight seeing that they took well to the horns and his odd behavior pretty well. Markus waved them all goodnight and walked back into the temple. "You seem to have some good friends in this army. I wonder if you are reallly the demon from before." Saul appeared from the darkness and looked at Markus and his cloak.

"Soldier's cloak too, you must be good." Markus couldn't help but feel resenment from Saul. "What do you want, Saul?" Saul shrugged and smiled. "Nothing that I can't obtain myself, that's for sure, but to be really honest." Saul pointed his pole at Markus. "I want to kill just like you." Markus smiled back and shook his head. "You're nothing than a brute, I have you too much credit." Markus turned his back to Saul and started to walk away. Saul placed his pole on his shoulder and shook his head too. "And you're too soft to lead a army of men into that hell."

Markus turned and started to draw his sword. "What did you say?" Markus saw Saul's smile turn into a smirk. "You are too weak to lead any men in there. Without proper guidance and orders from their higher ups, they will all die tomorrow." Markus walked back to Saul and stopped in front of him. "What makes you think that? You've never seen me battle nor do you know who I am!" Saul leaned forward and laughed in Markus's face.

"It wouldn't matter if I saw you kill five thousand men, you never embrace the darkness in your heart like our master's do. You only kill with limited energy and strength, you are afraid of something, aren't you?" Markus grabbed Saul's collar and inched closer. Saul smiled and leaned his head downwards. "You're worried about your humanity and who you are. You want to return home a human and a hero, you would probably cut off your own horns to look like one of those fools!"

Saul shoved Markus away and dropped his pole. "I too were like you but I threw away that soft side. I killed because that's all I knew, you are the same way! You can not deny that fact!" Markus looked at Saul and gripped his sword drawing it. "I want you to leave my sight now or I will strike you down." Saul stood his ground and balled his fist. "You will never understand until you fight. My words will make perfect sense then, the words will make perfect sense then." Markus shook his head and turned around walking away from Saul. "You will never understand, Saul. You will not understand what kind of life I've lead."

Saul grabbed his pole and laughed to himself. "You don't understand, I was there with you while you lived your life." Markus stopped after hearing those words and turned around quickly. Saul disappeared into the night leaving Markus to himself. "What did he mean?"


End file.
